New Beverly Hills diet

According to the author of this diet, which claims to be a 35-day lifestyle eating plan rather than a diet, the key to losing weight and feeling healthy is to improve digestion by combining fats, proteins, and carbohydrates correctly.

How the New Beverly Hills diet claims to work

The author, Judy Mazel, believes that when carbohydrates are eaten with proteins, they become trapped and are not digested properly. She goes on to claim that when carbohydrates are not digested, they are stored as fat. The premise is that proteins are the most difficult foods to digest, carbohydrates are easier, and fruits are the easiest. Fats do not interfere with the digestion of either protein or carbohydrates, but must not be eaten with fruit. Since fruits are digested very quickly, they have to be eaten alone, or they will become trapped in your stomach by other foods. Ideally, proteins should be eaten with other proteins, carbohydrates with carbohydrates, and fruit eaten alone.

The New Beverly Hills regimen

Unlike the first edition of the book, this New Beverly Hills Diet includes foods from all food groups, including animal protein, for the first ten days. The plan recommends beginning each day with fruit: you may eat as much fruit as you want, but should avoid mixing fruits. After eating proteins or carbohydrates, you should not eat fruit.

If you eat a carbohydrate food (such as starches, vegetables, salads, cereals, or grains) after eating fruits, you may eat carbohydrates without restriction until you eat a protein.

Once you eat protein (such as meat, fish, milk, yogurt, cheese, nuts, seeds, or ice cream), then 80 per cent of what you eat for the rest of the day should be protein only.

If you want to eat what the author calls your “open meal” (in which you combine carbohydrates and proteins, such as a hamburger and chips), you have to eat only carbohydrates for lunch and snacks that day.

Fats (such as butter, mayonnaise, oil, soured cream, and double cream) can be combined with carbohydrates or proteins. Diet colas and artificial sweeteners are not permitted in the diet. Most alcoholic drinks are considered carbohydrates and should be consumed only with other carbohydrates. However, wine is considered a fruit and must be combined only with other fruits.

The plan also includes antidotes and precedotes to offset the negative side effects of eating foods that are difficult to digest. Antidotes are foods eaten for breakfast the day after you eat food that is difficult to digest. Precedotes are foods eaten for breakfast the day you know you are going to eat a difficult-to-digest food. For example, before you eat fatty, creamy, or cheesy foods, you have to eat plenty of pineapple or strawberries as a precedote. Alternatively, you can eat one of these fruits as an antidote for breakfast the day after you have consumed a difficult-to-digest food.

Supplements are not essential for the diet, but nutritional yeast flakes mixed with water can be taken in order to supply B vitamins, sesame seeds as a calcium source, and blue-green algae as a source of natural nutrients. Also, a supplement of 1000mg of vitamin C with bioflavonoids is recommended.

Is the New Beverly Hills diet healthy?

This diet is based on the concept of food combining - a theory that has no scientific evidence to support it. The idea that carbohydrate is stored as fat because it is improperly digested makes no sense from a medical perspective.

There is no scientific evidence that food composition affects the way in which enzymes digest food. In any case, most foods found in nature contain some proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, making it very unlikely that our bodies are not adapted to dealing with combinations of nutrients. It is true that the absorption of carbohydrates will be delayed if they are combined with other foods, but no matter what we eat with carbohydrates, they will always be absorbed. If you select high fibre, complex carbohydrate sources, such as wholemeal bread, they will take longer to be absorbed by the body than simple carbohydrates such as sweets or fizzy drinks.

You may lose weight with the New Beverly Hills Diet due to a significant reduction in the calories you consume, but trying to remember which foods to eat when, and in what combination, can be confusing, time-consuming, and often very frustrating, especially when you are eating out or preparing meals for a family.

The New Beverly Hills Diet is an improvement on the old version, but in our opinion it is still nutritionally unbalanced and restrictive.

Lisa Hark, PhD RD & Dr Darwin Deen

Nutrition for Life Copyright © 2005 Dorling Kindersley Text copyright © 2005 Lisa Hark and Darwin Deen

Posted 30.06.2010

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